Free software drivers for the Intel 965GM Express Chipset

Free software drivers for the Intel 965GM Express Chipset

What do you think Intel wants more? My gratitude or my money?

They've made me switch from the faster AMD cpus to the Intel CPUs and Intel-based chipset (which is better then any other PC chipset I've ever used... which I like it a lot)

They got my money. If some other company (say ATI) does one better and actually releases specifications and/or allows developers to operate without having to sign restrictive NDAs then that company will be GODLIKE in my eyes. I will go out and by the newest things, I will post reviews on the internet and give details about how to get the most out of it. I will make sure that everybody knows it.

But there is this irritating trend that Linux developers do.. That is they tend to follow after big industry names and give them a lot of attention while smaller players tend to get ignored. It's dissapointing.

For instance wireless:

You have Intel, which is probably the best supported chipset aviable for Linux. They do code drops, they don't release specifications. For regulatory reasons or something like that.

But they get the attention for this.

And even broadcom cards, they get the attention.

But what about Ralink cards?

These are very common devices. You can go to most any consumer electronic store and pick up cards that use them. They are high quality, usefull, and very cheap.

They are supportive of Linux and other Free systems. They are supportive with hardware, documentation, and drivers.

Why isn't support for these devices in the kernel yet?

Why does Intel (which I am not upset about), and even worse.. BROADCOM have IN-KERNEL drivers and support while Linux users with RAlink cards are still struggling to get them working?!

For craps sake, it's not like these things haven't been around for many years. Why is the Linux kernel developers ignoring them? Or if they aren't ignoring them then why aren't they more supportive?

This is a top notch company, about as good as anybody can expect and yet because Intel has the big name they get the big attention. I WANT to tell people to buy these devices, but I can't because kernel support for them is shit, almost non-existant. I can't be certain that they work or anything... even though they some of the most common and most inexpensive devices you can find.

Drivers can be found at:
http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Downloads
http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php?title=Rt2x0...

"""BTW it is possible to get Intel graphics without WiFi, for example: my US-sold IBM T43p has Intel's WiFi, but my friends Europe-sold IBM T43p includes something else (I don't remember if worse or better Linux-wise). Unfortunately it's typical story: laptop vendors freely change components without saying anything in documentation or on site. If it's not major (HDD, CPU, Video) - you can get one deal and you friend in the same store - different one for the same model. Rare, but it happens. If we're talking about different countries - it's rule rather then exception :-( At least with Intel you can be sure you'll see pictures on screen!"""

Ya..

Well with Intel they've gotten smart a long time ago and that is why they have the 'Centrino' trademark.

In order for a laptop to be labled 'Centrino' you have to have Intel cpu, Intel chipset, and Intel Wifi. So if you buy a laptop with Centrino stickers and you get a broadcom wifi then they are breaking the Intel trademark by selling you the laptop and advertising it as 'centrino'. It shouldn't be difficult to get your money back from something like that.

The only thing that Centrino does not garrentee is the video chipset and I suppose other doo-dads like webcam and such.

So the answer to 'What linux laptop should I get' is fairly easy:
make sure to get a Centrino laptop with Intel onboard graphics.

Of course even there is enough differences to causeLinux users problems. Thank goodness for System76.

The 965MG will include the next generation graphics, the ones that come after GMA X3000, maybe GMA X3500 or GMA X4000? I don't know.

It's not a huge difference from the X3000, but they are suppose to support DirectX 10, which is a big deal for windows users.

These should meet the basic requirements for games up to Doom3 or Quake4 in terms of speed and capabilities. I'd probably make sure to get the fastest ram. Also I don't know how optimized they are and what all hardware features the drivers support.

For example with the GMA 950, which I use, the hardware has features for motion compinsation for mpeg2 playback acceleration. Almost a requirement for higher HD resolutions. aka XVMC support.

But the drivers don't support that.

The GMA X3000 should support features like shaders and hardware transformations and lighting, I don't know if the Intel drivers support that though... I don't know of any place I can go to find out this information.